Search results for "Mutant"
showing 10 items of 670 documents
UV Exposure Boosts Transcutaneous Immunization and Improves Tumor Immunity: Cytotoxic T-Cell Priming through the Skin
2010
Immunologic approaches to combat cancer aim at the induction of tumor-reactive immune responses to achieve long-term protection. In this context, we recently developed a transcutaneous immunization (TCI) method using the Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7 agonist imiquimod and a peptide epitope. Application onto intact skin induces potent cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses and protection against transplanted tumors. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of UV irradiation on imiquimod-based TCI. Here we show that skin exposure to low-dose UV light before TCI with imiquimod strongly boosts specific CTL responses leading to memory formation and enhanced tumor protection. Toward the …
Tetraspanin CD151 Mediates Papillomavirus Type 16 Endocytosis
2013
ABSTRACT Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) is the primary etiologic agent for cervical cancer. The infectious entry of HPV16 into cells occurs via a so-far poorly characterized clathrin- and caveolin-independent endocytic pathway, which involves tetraspanin proteins and actin. In this study, we investigated the specific role of the tetraspanin CD151 in the early steps of HPV16 infection. We show that surface-bound HPV16 moves together with CD151 within the plane of the membrane before they cointernalize into endosomes. Depletion of endogenous CD151 did not affect binding of viral particles to cells but resulted in reduction of HPV16 endocytosis. HPV16 uptake is dependent on the C-termina…
Efficient DNA Packaging of Bacteriophage PRD1 Requires the Unique Vertex Protein P6
2007
ABSTRACT The assembly of bacteriophage PRD1 proceeds via formation of empty procapsids containing an internal lipid membrane, into which the linear double-stranded DNA genome is subsequently packaged. The packaging ATPase P9 and other putative packaging proteins have been shown to be located at a unique vertex of the PRD1 capsid. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of a suppressor-sensitive PRD1 mutant deficient in the unique vertex protein P6. Protein P6 was found to be an essential part of the PRD1 packaging machinery; its absence leads to greatly reduced packaging efficiency. Lack of P6 was not found to affect particle assembly, because in the P6-deficient mutant infecti…
Production of Norspermidine Contributes to Aminoglycoside Resistance in pmrAB Mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
2019
Emergence of resistance to polymyxins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is mainly due to mutations in two-components systems, that promote addition of 4-amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through upregulation of operon arnBCADTEF-ugd (arn) expression. Here, we demonstrate that mutations occurring in different domains of histidine kinase PmrB or in response regulator PmrA result in coresistance to aminoglycosides and colistin. All seventeen clinical strains tested exhibiting such a cross-resistance phenotype were found to be pmrAB mutants. As shown by gene deletion experiments, the decreased susceptibility of the mutants to aminoglycosides was independent from operon arn but r…
Investigating the Molecular Mechanism of H3B-8800: A Splicing Modulator Inducing Preferential Lethality in Spliceosome-Mutant Cancers.
2021
The SF3B1 protein, part of the SF3b complex, recognizes the intron branch point sequence of precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA), thus contributing to splicing fidelity. SF3B1 is frequently mutated in cancer and is the target of distinct families of splicing modulators (SMs). Among these, H3B-8800 is of particular interest, as it induces preferential lethality in cancer cells bearing the frequent and highly pathogenic K700E SF3B1 mutation. Despite the potential of H3B-8800 to treat myeloid leukemia and other cancer types hallmarked by SF3B1 mutations, the molecular mechanism underlying its preferential lethality towards spliceosome-mutant cancer cells remains elusive. Here, microsecond-long a…
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin: formation of the heptameric pore is partially cooperative and proceeds through multiple intermediate stages.
1997
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin is a 293 residue polypeptide that assembles into pore-forming heptamers, residues 118-140, thereby inserting to form an amphipathic beta-barrel in the lipid bilayer. Fluorometric analyses were here conducted using cysteine-substitution mutants site-specifically-labeled at positions 35 or 130 with the environmentally-sensitive fluorophore acrylodan. In conjunction with functional assays, three conformational states of the heptamer were defined, which may represent transitional configurations of the toxin molecule along its way to membrane insertion and pore formation. The first was the freshly assembled, SDS-sensitive heptamer alpha7*a, where a minor alteration in …
Detoxication of carcinogenic fjord-region diol epoxides of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by glutathione transferase P1-1 variants and glutathione.
1998
AbstractEpidemiological studies suggest that individuals differing in the expression of allelic variants of the human glutathione transferase (GST) Pi gene differ in susceptibility to chemical carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). This study reports the catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km) of two naturally occurring variants, GSTP1-1/I-105 and GSTP1-1/V-105, towards a series of fjord-region diol epoxides representing potent biologically active PAH metabolites, and two GSTP1-1 mutants with Ala105 and Trp105 in the active site. The results indicate that individuals who are homozygous for the allele encoding GSTP1-1/V-105 might be more susceptible to PAH carcinogenesis due to…
Putative identification of an amphipathic alpha-helical sequence in hemolysin of Escherichia coli (HlyA) involved in transmembrane pore formation.
2008
Abstract Escherichia coli hemolysin is a pore-forming protein belonging to the RTX toxin family. Cysteine scanning mutagenesis was performed to characterize the putative pore-forming domain of the molecule. A single cysteine residue was introduced at 48 positions within the sequence spanning residues 170–400 and labeled with the polarity-sensitive dye badan. Spectrofluorimetric analyses indicated that several amino acids in this domain are inserted into the lipid bilayer during pore formation. An amphipathic α-helix spanning residues 272–298 was identified that may line the aqueous pore. The importance of this sequence was highlighted by the introduction of two prolines at positions 284 and…
Identification of N- and C-terminal Amino Acids of Lhca1 and Lhca4 Required for Formation of the Heterodimeric Peripheral Photosystem I Antenna LHCI-…
2002
Apoproteins of higher plant light-harvesting complexes (LHC) share considerable amino acid sequence identity/similarity. Despite this fact, they occur in different oligomeric states (i.e., monomeric, dimeric, and trimeric). As a step toward understanding the underlying structure requirements for different oligomerization behavior, we analyzed whether amino acids at the N- and C-termini of Lhca1 and Lhca4 are involved in the formation of the heterodimeric LHCI-730. Using altered proteins produced by deletion or site-directed mutagenesis for reconstitution, we were able to identify amino acids required for the assembly of LHCI-730. At the N-terminus of Lhca1, W4 is involved in heterodimerizat…
Properties of Human Hemoglobins with Increased Polarity in the α- or β-Heme Pocket
1998
The spectroscopic, conformational, and functional properties of mutant carbonmonoxy hemoglobins in which either the β-globin Val67(E11) or the α-globin Val62(E11) is replaced by threonine have been investigated. The thermal evolution of the Soret absorption band and the stretching frequency of the bound CO were used to probe the stereodynamic properties of the heme pocket. The functional properties were investigated by kinetic measurements. The spectroscopic and functional data were related to the conformational properties through molecular analysis. The effects of this nonpolar-to-polar isosteric mutation are: (i) increase of heme pocket anharmonic motions, (ii) stabilization of the A 0 co…